Transparency – Don’t Fake It or Else(!)
Mistakes get made when the pace of the day-to-day reaches uncomfortable speeds and today is no different than 10 years ago in terms of blow back. Case in point, I offer last week’s Computerworld slam on a disgraced former contributor:
Editor’s note: The person quoted in this story as “Craig Barth” is actually Randall C. Kennedy, an InfoWorld contributor. Kennedy, who presented himself as the CTO of Devil Mountain Software, no longer works at InfoWorld. Given that he disguised his identity to Computerworld and a number of other publications, the credibility of Kennedy’s statements is called into question. Rather than simply remove stories in which he is quoted, we have left them online so readers can weigh his data and conclusions for themselves.
Weather this was a misguided public relations tactic or not is unclear and not really the point. Transparency is the point and as a case study into why this is important I present the following.
Further media reports highlight the importance of strategic communications thinking before engaging publics (or stakeholders in any form). Here is some good reading by well respected journalists to highlight this point (note the reader participation of these articles).
Wall Street Journal’s Nick Wingfield, February 22, 2010
IT Business Edge’s Don Tennant, February 22, 2010
Tom’s Hardwar’s Tom Yam, February 22, 2010